You are not paranoid, it is frustrating. And didn’t Tesla get into some hot water some months ago because employees WERE watching the cameras and passing around some compromising photos?
As it happens, I was reading Tesla's statements on what data they collect and what they do with it recently. A friend of the SO's bought a MY last week (yea! We got a referral!), so I was very carefully going over the buttons and settings on the car. Especially since, since she was on the receiving end of the referral, she was getting three months of FSDS with the car. (FWIW, the car came with 12.3.3.)
Big, interesting point: A
very short statement that Tesla does not sell any information collected from the cameras to
anybody. Or give it to their 5,000 nearest buddies or something. Very direct statement: Let me look it up:
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Your Tesla generates vehicle, diagnostic, infotainment system, and Autopilot data. To protect your privacy from the moment you take delivery, Tesla does not associate the
vehicle data generated by your driving with your identity or account by default. As a result, no one but you would have knowledge of your activities,
location or a history of where you’ve been. Your in-vehicle experiences are also protected. From features such as voice commands, to surfing the web on your touchscreen, your information is kept private and secure, ensuring the
infotainment data collected is not linked to your identity or account.
Tesla vehicles are equipped with a camera suite designed from the ground up to protect your privacy while providing advanced features such as Autopilot, Smart Summon, and Autopark. To recognize things like lane lines, street signs and traffic light positions,
Autopilot data from the camera suite is processed directly without leaving your vehicle by default. In order for camera recordings for fleet learning to be shared with Tesla, your consent for
Data Sharing is required and can be controlled through the vehicle’s touchscreen at any time. Even if you choose to opt-in, unless we receive the data as a result of a safety event (a vehicle collision or airbag deployment) — camera recordings remain anonymous and are not linked to you or your vehicle.
Additionally, from Powerwall to Solar Roof, your Energy products are designed to protect your privacy. Tesla aims to collect a minimum amount of personal data necessary for displaying your in-app energy experience, providing services to you, and for improving your energy products. We are also committed to only share your personal data when needed to operate or service your product, or we will ask for your permission.
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Heck, my ISP's so-called Privacy (well, non-Privacy) notice is about ten times bigger than the above. Note that data gets processed
locally only, unless you give explicit permission for it to be sent.
Now, with respect to that hot water: People on FSD or just driving around are politely asked if they would, please, send Important Video Clips to Tesla, with the intent of improving the car's software. You
don't have to do this. Many people do. And expected that data to be securely handled, which was promised.
Turns out that access to the database of clips wasn't controlled as well as the people who wrote those statements thought. Word,
within Tesla, got out that there were some "fun" clips in there and some Tesla internal idiots started sharing the better ones around.
Finally, somebody with sense realized what was going on, reported it, and, internally, all heck broke loose. Don't know if people got fired, but the databases were thoroughly secured with access strictly on a need-to-know basis, which is what it should have been in the first place. And Tesla confessed and did a mea culpa.
The usual click-baiters made up headlines saying that "OMG Tesla Data Is Totally Insecure!" because, well, that's what click-baiters and anti-Tesla types do. There have been zero reports that the video clips made it out of the company; and I haven't heard of any lawsuits. Yet.
Compare the above with GM's and Ford's selling of user data to anybody with a nickel, to the point of congressional hearings and the like.
